diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 934ebf555fca7c08b9b8104ee2b4aee6e83705e3..2d01306c3ebdb275e6c884c339b13b87ff624c7c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ project(DD4hep)
 #  Use the same version numbers in DDSegmentaion/CmakeLists.txt
 #
 SET( DD4hep_VERSION_MAJOR 0 )
-SET( DD4hep_VERSION_MINOR 7 )
+SET( DD4hep_VERSION_MINOR 9 )
 SET( DD4hep_VERSION_PATCH 0 )
 
 SET( DD4hep_VERSION "${DD4hep_VERSION_MAJOR}.${DD4hep_VERSION_MINOR}" )
diff --git a/doc/release.notes b/doc/release.notes
index 38f473cd2f77ec4efdd5900854a306cceaf92f96..2768f5835b2806feffc82a78f3708e1fafd502d7 100644
--- a/doc/release.notes
+++ b/doc/release.notes
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
+
+=================================
 DD4hep  ----  Release Notes
 =================================
 
+ --------
+| v00-09 |  nineth beta release ...
+ --------   
+
+
 2014/08/07 Markus Frank
 -----------------------
     - DDG4: First version to support MC truth in DDG4 including 
@@ -11,6 +18,41 @@ DD4hep  ----  Release Notes
       built with the Geant4 option ON.
 
 
+ --------
+| v00-08 |  eighth beta release ...
+ --------   
+
+ - Some minor fixes:
+    - made compatible with older geant4 versions (9.5)
+    - add Bitflag to store CellID1 in SimCalorimeterHit collections
+    - fix position conversion from Geant4 to ROOT
+    - add cellID determination to SensitiveAction
+    - ...
+
+
+Andre Sailer, 2014-07-17
+------------------------
+  Unify cmake option variables, small cmake corrections
+  Change options _WITH_ to _USE_
+  Print Warning that variables with _WITH_ are deprecated
+  Change Defintions to _USE_ as well
+  Add REQUIRED to find_package geant4 and xercesc if they are turned on
+  Updated documentation
+  Updated ILDExDet example
+
+Christian.Grefe, 2014-07-15
+---------------------------
+  made DDSegmentation optionally a stand-alone package
+  create DDSgementationConfig.cmake when build as part of DD4hep
+
+
+ Markus Frank, 2014-07-02
+ ------------------------
+    - add LCIO conversions from DDSim - sensitive detectors 
+      can now simply instantiate LCIO Sim hits
+
+
+
 2014/06/30 Markus Frank
 -----------------------
     - DDG4: Support user (context-) extensions for Geant4.